New Camp, New Kids, New Experiences

Well we are half way through the third week of camp and we have moved locations and switched kids. I was assigned to the Level 1 (beginners) again at this camp with one of the other girls. (I am hoping that meant they were happy with my performance in the first two weeks) There are some huge differences between the kids at this camp. Their vocabulary is about the same but their writing and spelling abilities are way lower. But in general they are much better and speaking and know a ton of phrases. We are at a elementary school and there is a playground there which makes productivity at this camp go way down, but the kids are having fun and that is what matters. My kids again love Duck, Duck, Goose and all day every day they ask "Ahhhhdrienne, play Duck?"

After we went over numbers and colors we decided to play Uno with the kids to see how they liked it. Turns out Uno is a pretty widespread game and most of our kids knew how to play, but the ones that didn't caught on quickly and we all have tons of fun. They say "Stopo" for Skip, and "Passo" when they pick up and card and still can't go. They also all conspired against me today and kept making me pick up cards. Luckily I got them back when I won picture Bingo later :-p

One thing I love about this group of kids is anytime we say the word Happy they burst into song. I had never heard of it before so I decided to research it today and I found what they have been singing. It's kind of catchy and I've had it stuck in my head all week because of them.

I am picking up more Italian words and can only slightly communicate to various people around town. I pretty much have the numbers, most of the colors, lots of fruits (because of gelato), and various greetings and common phrases. I wish I was learning more, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.

Rome - Round 3

So I went to Rome again this weekend with Claire. I don't know what it is about it there but I find it all so..... romantic. Rome makes me feel comfortable, safe, confident, happy, sad, excited, and romantic. It's like no other city in the world. And it always leaves me wanting more.
I saw many things that I had already seen in Rome but got different experiences. I saw about 20 rooms at the Vatican I had never seen before. For whatever reason I appreciated the Sistine Chapel much more this time. I got to go literally everywhere you can go in the Colosseum, hiked up a bunch of trails in the park that is near there, and just got to explore more in general.

 Vatican Gardens

 Modern Art in the Vatican

 Other side of the Colosseum that I did not go to last time

My second favorite place in Rome, Trevi Fountain

Also to make this trip a little different and fun I did a Robowrangler in Rome picture series :-p It was awesome and I hope everyone has a chance to check it out.

On Saturday night Claire and I were shopping for various souvenirs. I ended up buying some amazing Balsamic Vinegar that is more the consistently of oil. It is aged like 20 years and delicious. I am bringing it back to the states! I was also looking for a Rome tote bag and a magnet for my classroom and we went into this random store and ended up talking to the two guys working there for like 30 minutes. They both spoke amazing English and were pretty nice to look at :-p We discussed traveling and where we have been and what our favorite cities were etc. We exchanged names and said good night (after many bella american and you have beautiful green eyes comments). Much the my surprise the next day in the park by the Colosseum I hear "Ahh-drienne" (because that's how all Italians say my name) and what do you know! It's the same guy from last night. I decided fate was trying to tell me something and we talked for a while took some pictures and just had a nice romantic moment in Rome. It was incredibly refreshing. And more proof that I need a reality show, because this is what happens unscripted in my life. 

Italy is good for me. It fits. My skin is soft, and incredibly tan. My hair is healthy, soft, shiny, and requires no styling. My heartburn is non-existent. I have lost some serious weight to the point where my pants are starting to fall off. My calfs are rock solid. My allergies are tame. And I'm laughing non-stop. Coming back to the states is going to be nice, but I will miss life here. It is relaxed and freeing.

Robowrangler in Rome

Pantheon

Fountain of the Four Rivers

Spanish Steps

Colosseum

Nathan Face :-p

Showing my guns

Dance Moves

I have to say, I think this is hysterical.

Second week of camp

Well we are half way done with our second week of camp, and our last week of camp in Porto Sant'Elpidio. (The last 2 weeks we will be at another camp about 30 minutes away) We had mostly the same kids in our group this week as we did last, although we did have one leave and 2 new students start. One of the new girls is the cutest. She has a broken arm but doesn't let it stop her one bit from running around playing all the games. She even wrapped it in saran wrap to play in the water today. The first thing she said to me during lunch on her first day was "English is my life." It was completely adorable.

Since we have mostly the same kids we are building from our start last week. On Monday our agenda actually had us begin prepositions which I thought were going to be very difficult. (Above, behind, on, under, in front of, etc.) But it turns out the kids caught on really quickly, and retained the information because I have been using the words all week to show them where to stand and they seem to understand still. I still have a few students that I am convinced think I speak Italian I just don't want to speak it to them. They will come up to me on breaks and tell me a long story in Italian and then I just have to say "English, I don't speak Italian." but they obviously are not advanced enough yet to tell me in English and so the story is lost in translation.

Today however was a great day. We were all told to wear swim suits and about half way through the say we were given a few"water games" to play. Example: two teams race with a soaking sponge on their head through an obstacle course and squeeze out as much water as they can into the bucket on the other side. We had a blast! Then we made our kids favorite game Duck, Duck, Goose into a water game with a sponge and you squeeze the whole thing out on the goose. It was amazing. We have the camp on a baseball field, and for the last half hour or so they just turned on the sprinklers and let the kids run around. They used buckets and kept filling them up and dumping them on us and it was a blast. (Although it reminded me of the 148 epic water fight in St. Louis and made me miss my kids in Texas a little) However I was so exhausted I was literally falling asleep at the lunch table.

Today I came home, took an hour nap and then met Claire at the travel agency to figure out our Rome trip. We went there because we can't buy tickets for anything online because we don't have a printer, and we can't buy tickets for anything at the train station or bus station because they don't take cash and none of our credit cards or debit cards will work in the machine for some reason. It is making travel a little frustrating, but we were able to get bus tickets to Rome for 27 euro, which makes us much happier then the 100 euro we spent to get to Venice. We are going to book a hostel tonight online and hopefully buy advanced tickets for the Vatican, so we don't have to wait in line. I have already been, but the other people I am traveling with have not. So I am going to visit again because there is SO much to see there.   Other then that the trip is wide open so we will see what happens.

The beginning of the week as been a little rough. I think the novelty of being here wore off a little and I was forced to deal with all the emotional stuff I came here to deal with. I was feeling very alone here, which is not that big of a deal but I started to realize that living alone, running errands alone, and having to start my single life is something that I am going to have to do when I get back to the US too. I have always hated living alone and I am anxious about doing it again. It makes it difficult when my attitude is such a roller coaster between "I am woman hear me roar" and "I don't remember how to be single, and I don't really want too." But for some reason today I am feeling better. I think that part of it has to do with in the past couple of days I have gotten little emails and notes for a lot of my very good friends from all aspects of life and from all over the country. I think what it all is going to boil too is that I love my friends (and more importantly my friend in Texas) and I love my career. There are many horrible things I could dwell o about my life, but the reality is I am healthy,  I am mostly financial stable, I am educated (and will soon have my Master's), I love what I get paid to do, and I have an amazing support system. So I know that the hard part isn't over yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I need to focus on that.

Adventures in Venice and Verona

So we took our first weekend trip this past weekend and had a great time. After camp on Friday we raced back to the apartments and then had to walk like a mile to the train station with all our luggage. (not fun) We had about a 5 hour trip and we had to switch trains twice which was a little stressful only because the train stations were a little hard to navigate. But we made it into Venice at about 9pm and only got lost twice getting to our hotel. We did have a map the problem with Venice is the maps don’t have street names and there are little no to street signs on the actual streets either. We stayed at Hotel Trei Achi (which means three arches, because it is right by a bridge that has 3 arches, only took me a day to make that connection :-p) We found it last minute on worldhostel.com and it was a tiny room with 5 single beds and a much nicer shower then at our apartments so we were pretty happy. We attempted to go out to dinner, but a very rude man literally kick us out of our table because we apparently didn’t order enough for them to keep the kitchen open. It was very strange. So we cut our losses and went back to the hotel and got some sleep so we could get up early the next morning.

At 8:50am we boarded out train to Verona! It took about an hour and then a 20 minute walk to get to the city center, which is home to the Roman Arena. I am such a nerd when it comes to roman architecture. I just think it is so amazing and to think about them building it with pretty much their bare hands and some simple machines. I just love seeing it and taking it all in. We weren’t sure if we would have time to go inside so we headed about 5 more blocks down to the famous Juliet’s house. It was mobbed with people in the courtyard, but not a lot of people actually go into the house. It was only 4 euro for students so we went up and took pictures on the balcony of course. We only stayed for about 15 minutes and then headed over to the Sanmicheli's bell tower because I read online that it was supposedly the best thing to do in Verona. Again for students it was only 4 euro so we went to the top, and all of us had to catch our breath when we saw the view.

 Entrance to Verona Centro

 The wall along to entrance to Juliet's house

 Juliet's Courtyard

 "The" balcony

 View from the top of the bell tower

We went shopping a bit afterwards and then decided we had just enough time to head back to the Arena. It was amazing inside and set up for the summer opera series that is put on there. Claire and I just sat inside for a while taking it all in. We hurried back to the train station and headed back to Venice for the afternoon. 

We took about 30 minutes to regroup in the hotel and then Claire and I headed to Piazza San Marco while the other girls went shopping. My only regret in Venice is not being able to go into the San Marco Basilica but the outside was incredible so at least I got to see some of it. We then headed up our second bell tower of the day for some amazing views of Venice and the surrounding islands.

 Bridge of Sighs

 Rialto Bridge

We headed back down and took a walk around the streets around there and stopped and took some picture of the bridge of sighs. The one that is supposed to give you luck if you kiss underneath it, but I wasn’t really into watching a bunch of couple on gondola’s kissing under a bridge, go figure. We were meeting to other girls at the Rialto Bridge at sunset so we decided to head over there and get dinner before then. We ordered a bottle of wine and took in the scenery and then had some great food. We ended up sitting next to a wonderful Australian couple and talked to them for about an hour about their travels and where we should go when we come to Australia, and it was one of the best parts of the trip! They told us this amazing story about the last time they were in Venice they had their oldest daughter with them who was 7 at the time. They never got to go on a Gondola ride because they were on a budget and she was having a meltdown and they had to go back to the hotel. Before they came on this trip their daughter gave them 200 euro and said, make sure you go on a Gondola ride this time! So cute. We ordered another bottle of wine while chatting and we nice and toasty when we met up with the other girls. Sunset was of course amazing!

Right afterwards we decided to take a gondola ride, it was expensive but you know when in Venice you have to do it! It was really fun, even though our guy was kind of a jerk. Afterwards I proved once again that my sense of direction is better then average because I managed to get us back to our hotel without getting lost while being a little (understatement) under the influence of alcohol. 

 Gondola Ride

 One of my favorite pics that I've taken on the trip

Claire, Me, Kaydee, Angelica, and Allison 

(this picture was taken by a guy from Plano, go figure)

We got up on Sunday and had almost a 6 hour train ride home, with 2 stops which was grueling after the exhausting weekend, but it was all well worth it. I loved Verona and Venice and I'm so glad I got to experience them with good company. Although this weekend was hard on me emotionally (Saturday was the 3 year anniversary of my Dad's passing, and Sunday was Father's Day) it was good to be doing something I've dreamed about doing and something that I know he would be so happy I was doing. I also was able to talk with my mom, aunt, and uncle on Sunday which was really nice because not being with them has been tough. The second week of camp has started (with a bang I might add) but I'll share updates about that later.

Daddy

I miss your laugh.

I miss sharing beers with you.

I miss hearing you tell stories.

I miss coming home and having you make sure my car was safe for me and taken care of.

I miss you making pizza.

I miss listening to music with you.

I miss seeing you smile.

I miss giving you hugs.

I hate that I still want to tell you things and pick up the phone to call you.

I miss you, I can't believe it's been 3 years.

Happy Fathers Day.

First Week of Camp

Well we finished our first week of camp!! It was harder and easier then I expected.
Working with 3 other teachers with 14 kids was difficult for me. I'm not used to having help in the "classroom" and sharing the stage was hard for me because I am not used to it at all. Combine that with people that don't have much experience and are hesitant to take the lead and we definitely had some growing pains. I think by the end of the week we had it worked out much better. The kids are amazing and I have come attached to them like I do with all my students. We played some awesome games today for a review (picture bingo, hangman, memory, and of course duck duck goose) I was amazing at how far they had come. We covered a lot of topics this week. Alphabet, Numbers, Colors, Animals, Classroom Materials, Fruits, Body Parts, Clothes, Action Words, Emotions, and others I am forgetting. They seemed to have the most trouble with body parts. The easiest was the alphabet and numbers. And the one they had the most fun with was animals. But today they seemed to even have body parts down! We ended the day with kick ball which was pretty hysterical. I finally remembered to snap a few pictures today. Most of them they are working on an animal word search.

Most of the kids will be back next week and we will probably have the same groups, so hopefully we can do more work with them. I am happy to be getting away this weekend though because I was getting a little anxious in the routine. We just got to Venice and had a quick dinner before everything closed up. We are headed to Verona in the morning and then back here for Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Rainy Day = Fun Post

It's a little cloudy and rainy here today so I am just chilling at the hotel where we can get internet. There are a lot of differences between America and Europe, and more specifically America and the small town of Porto Sant'Elpidio.

1) There are no dryers here. We hang all of our laundry out to dry on the railing of our balcony. A couple nights ago there was a storm. Thankfully all my laundry that blew off the railing landing in the balcony and not in the street

2) All the cars here are tiny and don't give a crap where they park. Street, ok. Sidewalk, ok. Middle of a round about, ok.

3) Bicycles. Everyone uses them as a main mode of transportation. Without helmets, it's scary.

4) Prostitutes. We see at least 6 on the main street here EVERY night. We actually made a game out of spotting them. Horrible I know.

5) Drains on the streets are just holes drilled into the pavement.

6) Meals here are events. They serve us so much food at lunch I feel like I am going to explode, but rude if I leave things on my plate. (Every thing has been amazing however, I mean just delectable)

7) Breakfast is dessert! I'm not complaining for sure, but all breakfast food has chocolate or Nutella in it. It is so freaking amazing.

8) Everywhere serves liquor. Cafes, restaurants, stores, you name it. Everyone drinks everywhere.

9) When you go out to eat they serve you water in 1.5 liter bottles and then give you teeny tiny plastic cups (like 4 oz.) to pour it into. It's like taking little water shots.

10) They serve seltzer everywhere! As the default. It's incredible.

I'm sure there is more, just can't think of them right now. I'm having a rough day today, no surprises though because this is typically a tough time of year of me. I'm sure that the next couple days will be the same. Hopefully weekend travel planning and actually travel will distract me.

Just another day...

Just another day here in Porto. Camp, Lunch, Beach, Drinks, Internet.
Camp was better today. Most of my kids remembered "Good Morning" and a lot of the animals. We worked on numbers and colors today and everything went really smoothly. We also played twister which was fun and challenging at the same time. I find myself frustrated a lot because I am no allowed to speak Italian to the students, but I also don't understand it yet. So I will have a student trying to tell me something, and I can't understand and all I can say is "say it in English" but they don't know how and I can't understand. Not beng able to communicate or meet the needs of my students is new and completely frustrating to me. But as a whole I feel like today went much better then yesterday.
Claire and I went to the beach after camp today and feel asleep for about 2 hours in the sand. We then went out for drinks at this bar that serves the best mojitos I have ever had. I watched them pick fresh mint to make them. We sat for hours and just drank and talked. It's hard to remember that we have known each other for 5 days and not 5 years. She is just the best!! We are both convinced that we were meant to come on this trip to find each other just to be each other's support. I am amazingly blessed to have this support at a time where I was seeking it while being in paradise at the same time.
We are in the middle of planning our trip this weekend to Venice and Verona. I can't wait. Caio!

First day at camp

Well my few days of nothing to do ended this morning with our first day of camp! I started to get nervous right before we left, but a 20 minute bike ride along the beach helped me to relax. I haven't biked in a long time, but I finally know why they always say "it's just like riding a bike" because after about 5 minutes I felt like I had never stopped. Some of the hills threatened to kill my thighs but I am going to try and ride an extra hour every day here and try to get back into somewhat decent shape.

Once we arrived we looked at our game plans for the day and went to get all our materials ready. They split us up into 2 groups, one with beginners and one with advanced students. There were 4 counselors with each group and I was with the beginners. Ages ranged from about 7-10. On the agenda for the day was greetings (hello, what is your name?, my name is ____, etc.), alphabet, animals, actions, and feelings. Most of the kids did well with greetings and didn't need much help. It was so cute to see them get so excited to ask you our name! Next we used flash cards to show the kids animals. It was fun to see the ones they obviously already knew (cat, dog, fish) and see them totally perplexed on others (kangaroo, koala, turtle). After reviewing them we playing this cute game where we broke into teams and laid the flash cards on the  ground. We would shout out an animal and one person from each team would race to see which one would grab it first. This helped us see which animals were already in their memories and which ones they continued to struggle with. Then we played my favorite game of all time (I am a champion!) Duck, Duck, Goose. The kids LOVED and I mean LOVED it. They didn't want to stop ever.
When we finally decided we needed to end this we moved onto the alphabet and did basic I say, You say, We say with all the letters, we were supposed to teach them the song but all of the kids knew it already! Bonus :-) Here's where things got a little tricky.

It was a hot humid day and after 2.5 hours the kids were hungry, hot, and tired. We gave them a break, but even after this they were hard to contain. This part was difficult for me and I started to get frustrated. I am not used to kids this little and how fast they shut down. Usually my bigger high school kids can keep it together. But I came here to challenge myself and tried to help them fight through. We switched up the games for feelings and actions a little to try and help them stay interested but it was almost impossible. We were supposed to end the day practicing for their end of the camp skit, but ended up playing Duck, Duck, Goose some more and reviewed words in between rounds. By the end I was hot, frustrated, and exhausted. We headed to our restaurant for lunch and although the food looked awesome I couldn't eat because I was so hot I was nauseous. I had them wrap it up for me and I saved it till I got home, cooled down and recovered a bit.

Of course we spent the afternoon on the beach, but it was cloudy and windy so we didn't stay as long as we planed. I come back to the apartment and decided to go to the grocery store. Insert adventure here:
My friends had been on Saturday and warned me that they charge for bags so I pulled out my weekend duffle bag to haul my stuff back in. I walked the 6 blocks and got just some simple things. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salad, bread, cheese, salami, prosciutto, mozzarella, vino, cereal, milk, cereal bars (for camp), and of course some chocolate just for good measure. Well here's the funny part, you have to pay for carts which is no big deal except I couldn't figure out how to pay and unhook them. So I am balancing all this stuff in my arms to the counter. Once I get there and they are ringing me up I am trying to pack my bag and pay and everything but I am not done packing when the next man is done. So he proceeds to push my bag out of his way and almost onto the floor so he can get by. Thinking "Stupido Americano" the whole time I am sure. So I get everything up and pack it on the sidewalk outside. At least nothing broke!!!

Well, that was a long entry! My peeps just got here and we are trying to plan a trip for this weekend. Then we are headed to a cute little wine bar we found on the first day to plan for tomorrow's camp. I was a little homesick last night and today. Vi amo tutti!

Let's get it started!

Well my first weekend in Italy has been a great success.
Saturday: We went to orientation in the morning and were able to get a better idea of what we would be doing. We played some ESL games and got to meet to people who run the camp here. We picked up our bikes and rode back to our apartments, which was an adventure to say the least. First of all, I didn't know we were getting our bikes so I wore a skirt. I'm pretty sure I flashed everyone in Porto yesterday. But I was not really that concerned, mostly because I was more concerned about not getting run over by other bikers and cars. We decided to go out as a group last night and hit a couple beach bars. We found out that drinks here are VERY strong. Like straight liquor. So we were all feeling pretty good, and then accidentally crashed a wedding. You know, just a typical Saturday night.
Sunday: We all got up and the crack of noon and headed over to the restaurant that serves us lunch for free 7 days a weeks. As I keept writing these crazy sentences I can't believe that this is really my life. We went to the beach afterwards and hung out for about 3 hours. The water was freezing but amazing. We are all at the cafe getting internet now, and going to head out to dinner later with a few Italian friends we met today that are part of the camp.
I am picking up the language a little. The phrase I use the most is Mi Dispiace. Which translates to I'm Sorry :-p
I'm surprised at how much Spanish is helping me get through things here. I am hoping my Italian gets better this week, as there are a lot of times I am totally frustrated with myself that I can't speak the language. Camp starts tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it! More exciting stories to come!

 All of the girls!

 Me and Claire in the Ocean

Ballin with our Corona's

Finally In Porto Sant'Elpidio

Well yesterday was exciting! I took a cab to the airport to meet up with my group and take the 3.5 hour car ride to our camp. We left at 10am and got into Porto Sant'Elpidio around 2pm. There are 2 apartments for the consolers one downstairs with 2 people and one upstairs with 6 people. I am downstairs :-) So there are 8 of us girls all together. 3 are seniors at Arizona State, 3 are friends from someone where but they all go to different colleges (one in Chicago, one in NYC, and I don't remember the last one). Then there is me and one other girl that goes to University of Chicago.
In case you didn't get this from the information above, I am the only non-college student here :-p and the oldest by about 6 years. Good thing I'm young at heart! My roommate (Bre) is the only other girl that came here alone and she is pretty awesome. The first thing she did was break a dresser drawer and then we fixed it and she said "crisis averted." I know then and there we would get along. I rode here with the 3 girls from ASU and we hit it off pretty well. They want to travel all over and have invited me to explore with them.
My apartment is basic, and all that we need. I barely fit in the shower, in fact my shoulders hit the walls when I turn, but the girls upstairs can't stand up in theirs so I feel lucky.
The people here drove us to a place for dinner last night that the group from last year ate at all the time. We had pasta, Prosciutto, and fresh pulled mozzarella. After diner I decided to walk around with the girls from ASU (Claire, Anita, and Lucia). We walked around the main square in town, down to the beach, and ended up having a glass of wine at this cute little place in town.

I'm living here for a month. Unreal.

We were having a nice time, and the waiter came up with a plate of mini sandwiches and rolls and this yummy salad. Then he came up with a tray of mini pizzas, and coffee creme shots. We were all stuffed but managed to inhale most of the plates and they didn't charge us anything! We will be back there for sure!

Wine and second dinner

I am sitting at an internet cafe down the street from my apartment, and we have orientation a little later today. I am having the best time. Ciao!

Capri

Well day 2 was a little less eventful then day 1. I only got about 3 hours of sleep because I slept so much during the planes rides, but I was ready to go at 6:30am when the bus came to get me to take me to Capri for the day. I slept for most of the 3 hour bus ride, and we got to Naples at 11 and caught the 11:10 boat to Capri. It was 50 minutes by boat and I didn’t get sick once and the waves were pretty crazy at points. (thank you scopolamine patch). I opted to take a boat to the blue grotto so as soon as we got off the boat we boarded another bus that us up the windy mountain roads to get the other side of the island. I saw Mt. Vesuvius while were driving, and I can’t wait to see it closer when I go to Pompeii with my mom and sister at the end of the month.

 Capri from the dock

Blue Grotto Entrance

 1 meter high!!

Inside!

So once we got to the grotto entrance we had to wait a while but it was sure worth it. Each boat hold about 4 people and you must lie completely flat to make it through the 1 meter high entrance. Once you get in the cave the water is the prettiest blue you have ever seen and the whole cave is lit up by the water. Most of my pictures are blurry because my camera didn’t like to dark cave with a few bright spots.

After this adventure we went straight to lunch where I had seafood risotto (which tasted very similar to my Aunt Lowell’s amazing paella), bake sole, and of course gelato! We got to wander around Capri for about 2 hours afterward. I stayed pretty close the area we were in after getting so lost last night. It was neat to try all the different Limóncello’s (I did get a bottle of my favorite) and watch the massive amounts of cobblers that let you design your own shoe and then they make it right in front of you. If they weren’t 100 Euros I would have considered a pair :-p

Unfortunately we had to leave Carpi and head back to Rome where I picked up a late night pizza for myself with Truffle Oil, Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Mushrooms, and pumpkin flowers.

Tomorrow I met my shuttle at the airport at 10am to head to the east coast of Italy where I will be working this summer. It’s about a four-hour drive and by the end of the day I should be settled in and have met my new roommates.

I’m proud of myself because I have yet to have a major freak out, even a minor one of that matter. Yesterday during the creepy cab ride I kept my cool and handled it with poise and grace. Maybe I was really on to something with this trip!

Quick Pic, Blue Grotto Entrance

Day 1

Well I left DFW at 9pm last night, had a quick stop in London and made it to Rome at 5:30 today. I pretty much slept on both flights and was wide awake when I got here. I ended up taking a bus for 4 euros the the center of rome and I was going to take a train to my hotel, but I got a little overwhlemed so when a guy saw me he offered me a taxi ride. But when I got in the taxi it won't start. (me and cars these days) The driver messed around with a few things and then it magically worked. 2.5 hours after I landed I was finally able to get my stuff all up into my hotel room that is the size a bath tub :-p and then asked the hotel where he thought I should get dinner. He recommended this place, which was about a 5 minute walk.

I ended up sitting next to another woman that was by herself from the Philippines, and we ended up chatting for the whole dinner. She has been in Italy 2 months and this is her last stop. She was very pleasant to chat with and she recommend a first course to me. Caciofiore Del Contadino, which is a salad with Pecorino cheese, pears, and honey. I was going to take a picture of it but I gobbled it down in about 10 seconds. It was incredibly delicious! For my pasta choice I had Mezzemaniche Alle Noci, which was ravioli with a walnut cream sauce. It was divine. Here's where things get interesting. I decided after dinner I wanted to walk to the Colosseum so I could see it at night. I had a map and didn't look to far away. So I start walking and I'm on the right path, until all of a sudden I wasn't. Being the stubborn person I am I kept walking because I was sure I was just looking at the map wrong. But about 30 minutes later I realize I am completely lost, and can't even find where I am on my map. So I go into a restaurant and ask for directions. They tell me I am super far from my hotel but there is a bus that will take me there at the bus stop around the corner. So I go and wait and wait and wait. Finally a cab pulls up (by this time it's 10:30pm) So I jump in and show him where I'm going. About 30 seconds into the ride I realize there is not anything in his car that shows he is a cab driver. So I start to panic. I thought more then once about jumping out of a moving car. We drove around for a long time and I knew we weren't even close to the hotel. Then I finally understand him enough to get out of it that he wanted to drive me around to show me things that I haven't seen before. Case and point below:

Rome at night with the moon in the background. So at this point I've decided that this guy probably isn't going to sell me to be a sex slave or anything so I go along with it a little more. Finally at midnight I am exhausted and he took me back to my hotel and didn't charge me a cent. Definitely a weird and creepy way the start the trip though.Oh well, I'm headed to Capri for the day tomorrow! I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures!

Heart of the Matter

Trying to find closure here before leaving for a chuck of the summer has been a challenge. Physically I feel like I am all over the place. Half my things are in storage, half at a friends house, and even more stuff scattered through out various closets and attics. I am trying to take care of last minute things: mail, banking, bills, loose ends at work, etc. And of course I am trying to settle things emotionally for myself so I can make the most of my time over seas.

I've been so angry for so long and it's not an emotion I am used to carrying. So I suppressed it and tried to keep in inside, and not do anything irrational. But what I failed to realize was that the only way it was going to go away was by letting it out. So I lost my cool for a moment, said some things that I needed to get off my chest, even though they weren't that nice or even really needed to be said. But since then I have felt so much better. I've been able to find some sort of peace. I finally felt like I did something I needed to do, not just what everyone else was telling me I needed to do. I love all the people in my life and they have been wonderful through out this whole process, but I got to a point where I was sick of listening to every body else's opinion of what I needed to do. It's easy to tell me I need to move on when they are all in happy functional relationships. What wasn't so easy was for me to figure out what I needed in all this.

I finally figured out that I needed pretty simple things. I needed time, I needed lots of space, and most importantly I needed to say my piece.

So now here I am, ready to head out and try new things. Feeling like I have finally gotten down to the heart of the matter.

"There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
Gotta put it all behind ya, cause life goes on
You keep carrying that anger, it will eat you inside
I wanted happily ever after, but my heart is so shattered
But I know it's about forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me
I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter
Because the flesh gets weak and the the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinking about forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if you don't love me anymore"