Well, I made it to Venice this past weekend with Carly, Colleen and Matt...and it was maginficent!! Suprisingly enough the meet up with a bunch of my friends from orientation worked out as well....we got to see cara, daniela, nick, alyxa, gina, amber, kristen and natalie!! It was so great to see everyone again to hang out by the water, sightsee, eat and drink. I didn't get to do too much there but I did make it to Piazza San Marco and went into the Basilica. I also bought some venetian glass souveniors and other gifts for friends and family.
Late Saturday night, Carly and I headed to Roseto....it was a very interesting experience to say the least. I basically got harrassed by these two russian guys who wouldn't stop talking to me and carly but once i started yelling and telling them to go away, i speak english and will punch you in the face, they finally left. The rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful with the exception of this rude italian and this horrible smelling woman in our train car, lol.
Roseto degli Abbruzzi is breathtaking and this set up we have is ridiculously amazing! We are in a bungalow (basically apartment) with two guys and the other 5 girls are in a bungalow nearby. The beach and the adriatic sea are literally seconds from our door, there is a pool with two water slides, and we eat at the restaraunt for free meals twice a day (and lots of vino). Definitely way better than any set-up i thought i was going to get from acle!! The other tutors are all awesome as well!!! Everyone is pretty chill and funny and we've been spending our nights having long dinners, drinking lots of vino and hanging out on the beach. It's been spectacular.
Camp has been going relatively ok (60% done!!!) but some of my kids are pains in the ass and should definitely not be in the purple book. A couple of them basically refuse to speak english and it drives me bananas but oh well! Our play should be good and they wrote a nice script that i collated about the simpsons vacationing in italy so i'm hoping it goes off without a hitch!! And we are going to the beach with the kids tomorrow so that will be fun!!
Unfortunately it's not looking like i am going to get to pettorano this week which pretty much is devestating. It's just too hard with camp ending at 5 everyday and without having a car!! I haven't been able to find a train that will leave at the right times for me to be able to get back. I am still thinking about calling my relative who is the area but I feel bad having her drive here to get me, take me to pettorano and then back home. It's such a shame that I am so close (only an hour and a half by car) and i'm not going. I'm very disappointed in general and in myself for not trying harder but ya know what can ya do? I can't be too hard on myself and next time i come back, be it with friends or family i am going there!
So there is only 2 more days of camp, the show, and then off to Roma early saturday morning!! I'm staying with Colleen which is super cool and then we are both heading to the airport on sunday. Then it will be back to the states i go! Crazy that this month is coming to a close in 4 days. I feel like i've been here for 3 months. I've had some amazing times and met such wonderful, intelligent and intriguing people. I've been having such mixed emotions about coming home. I am SO SO SO excited to see everyone especially my family because I've missed them so much but I'm going to miss all my new friends and it will be sad to leave italia. I love it here! It's so gorgeous and extrodinary. I feel like i've learned so much about the world and myself on this trip and I just want to do more. I've most definitely caught the traveling bug now so I'm hoping to come back sometime next year if my student loans don't kill me!! and hopefully it will be with some new and\or old friends!!!! :)
Alright i should get on my way back to lido d'abbruzzo! We are having pesto linguini tonight (yum) and will probably hang out on the beach!
Love you all and SEE YOU in 4 DAYS!!
Lauren
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
i'm on my host family's dial up so i'll make this quick
okkkkkkk so i am going to journal and then transfer it over to the blog unless i can get to the internet in city hall tomorrow.
cimadolmo has been an interesting, learning, and growing experience for me. the first two days here i was in complete culture shock, devestated that i was torn away from the close friends i made during orientation, and exhausted from trying to talk to my family who speak very little english, and work with children who look at me like i have 10 million heads everytime i ask them if they understand.
howeve, after monday things definitely went on the upswing....my kids who are all around age 13 and 14 have become much better albeit they are absolutely nuts, we are doing this crazy color wars type mini olympics thing which my team is totally kicking butt in and is just my favorite part of camp, the two tutors (colleen and matt) who are with me and carly are AWESOME, and i'm learning italian and my family is learning english. we are both trying very hard and it's great. last night they even tried to play scrabble in english....it was so cute.
soooooo tomorrow is the last day of camp (wooooooot!) and the show should go off without a hitch, hopefully. i'm leaving early saturday morning with the rest of the tutors, spending the day in venice and meeting up with some friends from my orienation-bajardo (YAY!) and then taking the midnight train to rosetta degli abbruzzi in abruzzo where i'll be working with 8 other tutors, staying in apartments off the adratiac sea and having an amazing time, then next saturday off to rome where i will spend a night in a hotel with colleen and then back to the US!!!! i am so flippin excited i can't wait!!! and i think i'm going to get to pettarano sul gizio and see where mia famiglia was born which would make my trip pretty much the most amazing thing ever.
alright i gotta go, off to oderzo with the host fam.
LIBBY CALL MY PHONE i ran out of euros and need to buy some more tomorrow 393339886259!!!
love and miss you all.....9 days and counting till i'm back in the states.
love lauren
cimadolmo has been an interesting, learning, and growing experience for me. the first two days here i was in complete culture shock, devestated that i was torn away from the close friends i made during orientation, and exhausted from trying to talk to my family who speak very little english, and work with children who look at me like i have 10 million heads everytime i ask them if they understand.
howeve, after monday things definitely went on the upswing....my kids who are all around age 13 and 14 have become much better albeit they are absolutely nuts, we are doing this crazy color wars type mini olympics thing which my team is totally kicking butt in and is just my favorite part of camp, the two tutors (colleen and matt) who are with me and carly are AWESOME, and i'm learning italian and my family is learning english. we are both trying very hard and it's great. last night they even tried to play scrabble in english....it was so cute.
soooooo tomorrow is the last day of camp (wooooooot!) and the show should go off without a hitch, hopefully. i'm leaving early saturday morning with the rest of the tutors, spending the day in venice and meeting up with some friends from my orienation-bajardo (YAY!) and then taking the midnight train to rosetta degli abbruzzi in abruzzo where i'll be working with 8 other tutors, staying in apartments off the adratiac sea and having an amazing time, then next saturday off to rome where i will spend a night in a hotel with colleen and then back to the US!!!! i am so flippin excited i can't wait!!! and i think i'm going to get to pettarano sul gizio and see where mia famiglia was born which would make my trip pretty much the most amazing thing ever.
alright i gotta go, off to oderzo with the host fam.
LIBBY CALL MY PHONE i ran out of euros and need to buy some more tomorrow 393339886259!!!
love and miss you all.....9 days and counting till i'm back in the states.
love lauren
Thursday, June 26, 2008
off to cimadolmo
Well our time in bajardo is ending soon and to tell you the truth this whole vacation in the mountains has put me off a bit to working....i wish i could just travel around the country. We've had a pretty great time in the mountains so far with the exception of some extremely cold showers and having to clean up literally piles and piles of trash that were in cellars and bringing them up and down the mountains.
Yesterday, ACLE took us to France and Monaco for the day. After being stuck in traffic on the autostrada we spent the morning-early afternoon in Cannes. The beach there is absolutely gorgeous with nice clear water and hot white sand. All the shops had film festival souvenirs so i bought a post card and a shot glass to add to my collection. Which speaking of i need to get one from San Remo before i leave here today. After cannes we headed to Monte Carlo.....which was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortuntely i didn't get to go to the casino because we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to get in since we all had beach wear on but i guess a few of us did. Someone even won 100 euro. I feel like i bought more souvenirs there then i have in italy so far. I took some great pictures and saw some awesome things.
Last night, we finally found out where we are going......i'm off to cimadolmo which apparently is about 60 km from venice in the region of veneto. It's not closer to rome which i would have liked nor is it a 2 week camp but hopefully i'll be closer to rome during my second camp. I really would like to see Abbruzzi but i don't know if that will happen now. A lot of my friends are near Milan so maybe over the weekend i can head towards there and then we'll see what happens. I'm heading out with one other girl and we are meeting up with two tutors who are doing camps right now. Should be a good time, hopefully.
Well i have to get going, hopefully i'll be able to catch some internet and head near venice!!!
love and miss you all.
Yesterday, ACLE took us to France and Monaco for the day. After being stuck in traffic on the autostrada we spent the morning-early afternoon in Cannes. The beach there is absolutely gorgeous with nice clear water and hot white sand. All the shops had film festival souvenirs so i bought a post card and a shot glass to add to my collection. Which speaking of i need to get one from San Remo before i leave here today. After cannes we headed to Monte Carlo.....which was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortuntely i didn't get to go to the casino because we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to get in since we all had beach wear on but i guess a few of us did. Someone even won 100 euro. I feel like i bought more souvenirs there then i have in italy so far. I took some great pictures and saw some awesome things.
Last night, we finally found out where we are going......i'm off to cimadolmo which apparently is about 60 km from venice in the region of veneto. It's not closer to rome which i would have liked nor is it a 2 week camp but hopefully i'll be closer to rome during my second camp. I really would like to see Abbruzzi but i don't know if that will happen now. A lot of my friends are near Milan so maybe over the weekend i can head towards there and then we'll see what happens. I'm heading out with one other girl and we are meeting up with two tutors who are doing camps right now. Should be a good time, hopefully.
Well i have to get going, hopefully i'll be able to catch some internet and head near venice!!!
love and miss you all.
Monday, June 23, 2008
bajardo v. san remo
Bajardo is a breathtakingly beautiful town... We are all living in these little houses that are made of bricks and stone and cement up this tiny hill at the end of town. My house is at the bottom so i don't have too many rocks to climb to get up there but getting luggage to the top of that hill was a trek. The houses are nice but i pretty much feel like we don't live in civilization anymore. There is no interent, the water is rain water, the floors are all cement, there are bugs everywhere and we have just enough food and supplies to get by. I could definitely see it as a place you could visit but i could never ever imagine myself living there.
Since we all got in Bahardo, on saturday we all ate dinner together in this near the houses, played a few games and had a movie night. It was great just to hang out and relax after the long exhausting week of orientation.
After being woken up by the ridiculously loud church bells at 7 am, I went to mass on sunday with some of my friends which was really nice. The church was beautiful. I didn't really understand everything that was going on but i kind of picked up on where we were in the mass and was attempting to speak the italian so i felt pretty good about it. We also went on this treacherous hike in the woods on one of the mountains to find this river that apparently doesn't exist. About three groups went down looking for it and not one found it. We must have hiked for a little more than 3 hours. I have so many scratches from thorns and plants on my legs it looks like i got attacked by a bear or something. It was pretty nuts and exhausting...very fun though. Later, Arrigo's friend came and made us dinner and i think it was almost the best pasta we've had all week with the exception of the pesto lasagna....pretty greatstuff. Last night the italia/spain game was on so we huddled into the piazza and then a bar in town to watch it. I've never really been into soccer but let me tell you i was freaking out last night...it was intense....i think it must have been the left over exhilaration/craziness in me that i didn't get to express for the celtics. Unforunately italia lost in a shoot out....4-2. It was devesating.
As you can tell by me posting this, we came down on the bus to san remo today. We found the beach with the sand which was great, played some games, got a tan...all those fabulous things. I am going to be so tan when i get back to watertown, you guys won't even recognize me...well that's the plan anyways. We got some mcd's for lunch (HAHAHAH) and now are gonna hang around until we can take the crazy trip back up the mountain. It's a ridiculously twisty and turny one and i'm hoping no one gets sick. Tonight we're gonna throw a party and hopefully sleep very late tomorrow morning.
On wednesday we'll be going to cannes and monte carlo (woot!woot!) which should be a blast and we'll find out our camp locations on thursday. This whole experience has been pretty great so far, i'm going to be really sad when we all have to separate for our respective camps on saturday...i feel like we've kind of turned into this one big family. All the other tutors here are wicked awesome and i hope us actually saying we are going to keep in touch means we will. I've already got semi plans to visit chicago and montreal. Kristen, Cara and I will probably hang out in boston too!!! wooot!!!
alright i should be going....lots of peeps in line to use the internet here. I'm not sure when i'll be able to get on this again but hopefully soon. love and miss you all!!!!
again please call me anytime this week....it's freeeeee and i have lots of time.
love, lauren
Since we all got in Bahardo, on saturday we all ate dinner together in this near the houses, played a few games and had a movie night. It was great just to hang out and relax after the long exhausting week of orientation.
After being woken up by the ridiculously loud church bells at 7 am, I went to mass on sunday with some of my friends which was really nice. The church was beautiful. I didn't really understand everything that was going on but i kind of picked up on where we were in the mass and was attempting to speak the italian so i felt pretty good about it. We also went on this treacherous hike in the woods on one of the mountains to find this river that apparently doesn't exist. About three groups went down looking for it and not one found it. We must have hiked for a little more than 3 hours. I have so many scratches from thorns and plants on my legs it looks like i got attacked by a bear or something. It was pretty nuts and exhausting...very fun though. Later, Arrigo's friend came and made us dinner and i think it was almost the best pasta we've had all week with the exception of the pesto lasagna....pretty greatstuff. Last night the italia/spain game was on so we huddled into the piazza and then a bar in town to watch it. I've never really been into soccer but let me tell you i was freaking out last night...it was intense....i think it must have been the left over exhilaration/craziness in me that i didn't get to express for the celtics. Unforunately italia lost in a shoot out....4-2. It was devesating.
As you can tell by me posting this, we came down on the bus to san remo today. We found the beach with the sand which was great, played some games, got a tan...all those fabulous things. I am going to be so tan when i get back to watertown, you guys won't even recognize me...well that's the plan anyways. We got some mcd's for lunch (HAHAHAH) and now are gonna hang around until we can take the crazy trip back up the mountain. It's a ridiculously twisty and turny one and i'm hoping no one gets sick. Tonight we're gonna throw a party and hopefully sleep very late tomorrow morning.
On wednesday we'll be going to cannes and monte carlo (woot!woot!) which should be a blast and we'll find out our camp locations on thursday. This whole experience has been pretty great so far, i'm going to be really sad when we all have to separate for our respective camps on saturday...i feel like we've kind of turned into this one big family. All the other tutors here are wicked awesome and i hope us actually saying we are going to keep in touch means we will. I've already got semi plans to visit chicago and montreal. Kristen, Cara and I will probably hang out in boston too!!! wooot!!!
alright i should be going....lots of peeps in line to use the internet here. I'm not sure when i'll be able to get on this again but hopefully soon. love and miss you all!!!!
again please call me anytime this week....it's freeeeee and i have lots of time.
love, lauren
Saturday, June 21, 2008
off to the mountains...
Well orientation is over. Sorry i haven't been able to update since monday/tuesday...things here have been a little crazy. Orientation days were long and exhausting running from about 9 to 5. We learned a lot of fun games and songs to use with the kids, and went over how to plan effective lesson plans for the different age groups and language levels. We actually got to work with some kids on thursday which was really cool....they were so adorable but speaking to some of them was definitely harder than i thought it would be, especially the little ones. We also got to put on a little skit similar to the shows we will be planning with the kids at the end of each camp week. It was hilarious with our play being about the Jolie-Pitts....i have some great pictures.
After orientation everyday i've been pretty much heading back to the hotel to sleep and/or going to the beach. We went to a nice one yesterday but it was a bit rocky so i didn't really head in the water. The beaches and the sunset here are absolutely gorgeous. ACLE has been feeding us HUGE dinners everynight at different restaurants each night.....the food is amazing but god i feel like i can't fit anything else in my stomach. Luckily though we've been walking for more than an hour a day so hopefully that will negate all the pasta and carbs they've been feeding us. Best meal so far was definitely the pesto lasagna we had for lunch yesterday.....it was amazinggggg. After dinners we've gone out to a few bars...pretty good drunken times. Everyone on my orientation is pretty great so we've been having an excellent time so far. Many many pictures....althought with no blowdryer (i burnt it out) i probably look like crap in most of them.
The big news is that apparently ACLE was informed this week that the two camps were most of us were supposed to be going were cancelled because of low enrollment or something. Three tutors are heading to san pietro and torino today and the rest of us our off to Boiardo (totally spelled wrong)...a little mountain town with a population of 200 to relax, and plan, and i guess that's it. They are also going to take us to Cannes and Monte Carlo for a day I believe which should be really beautiful. The best part about this little vacation is that they are still taking care of all our food and even paid us 100 euros....pretty sweet deal. I hope this doesnà t happen the week after though because then i'll be really mad....i really do want to work with the kiddos.
Welll i should be on my way. I think checkout is at 10 and we are heading up to the mountains at 11 or so. I won't have internet up there so please please call my phone whenever and i'm gonna try to come down to san remo at one point to go to the beach and come back to the internet cafe. Talk to you all sooon. love and miss you!!!
love, lauren
PS. CONGRATS BOSTON CELTICS!!!!! WOOOOOOOT!!!!! i'm so sad i wasn't there for the game and parade but i just went on boston.com and saw all the festivities....and thanks for the texts letting me know are boys killed kobe and the lakers!!!!wooooot!!! i can't wait to come back and get my shirts, lol. woooooooot!!!!!!
After orientation everyday i've been pretty much heading back to the hotel to sleep and/or going to the beach. We went to a nice one yesterday but it was a bit rocky so i didn't really head in the water. The beaches and the sunset here are absolutely gorgeous. ACLE has been feeding us HUGE dinners everynight at different restaurants each night.....the food is amazing but god i feel like i can't fit anything else in my stomach. Luckily though we've been walking for more than an hour a day so hopefully that will negate all the pasta and carbs they've been feeding us. Best meal so far was definitely the pesto lasagna we had for lunch yesterday.....it was amazinggggg. After dinners we've gone out to a few bars...pretty good drunken times. Everyone on my orientation is pretty great so we've been having an excellent time so far. Many many pictures....althought with no blowdryer (i burnt it out) i probably look like crap in most of them.
The big news is that apparently ACLE was informed this week that the two camps were most of us were supposed to be going were cancelled because of low enrollment or something. Three tutors are heading to san pietro and torino today and the rest of us our off to Boiardo (totally spelled wrong)...a little mountain town with a population of 200 to relax, and plan, and i guess that's it. They are also going to take us to Cannes and Monte Carlo for a day I believe which should be really beautiful. The best part about this little vacation is that they are still taking care of all our food and even paid us 100 euros....pretty sweet deal. I hope this doesnà t happen the week after though because then i'll be really mad....i really do want to work with the kiddos.
Welll i should be on my way. I think checkout is at 10 and we are heading up to the mountains at 11 or so. I won't have internet up there so please please call my phone whenever and i'm gonna try to come down to san remo at one point to go to the beach and come back to the internet cafe. Talk to you all sooon. love and miss you!!!
love, lauren
PS. CONGRATS BOSTON CELTICS!!!!! WOOOOOOOT!!!!! i'm so sad i wasn't there for the game and parade but i just went on boston.com and saw all the festivities....and thanks for the texts letting me know are boys killed kobe and the lakers!!!!wooooot!!! i can't wait to come back and get my shirts, lol. woooooooot!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Day 1 of Orientation and more
Soooooo i'm here in beautiful San remo and the keys on this keyboard are a little weird so i apologize for any errors. After the troubles with my flight, everything else went nicely on the plan to nice and with meeting up people at the airport. I met up with natalie and together we found are way to the other terminal to meet up with Mike and Nick. Thank god we were all together because i definitely would have gotten lost taking the bus and two trains to finally get to san remo.
Yesterday, i bought a cheap lil telefoninino (cell phone) where i get free incoming calls....so feel free to call me whenever....
the number is 011393339886259
After this we went to a place called the Sax bar for a little meet and greet....had some drinks and good eats...then went for a walk down the beach!! It was pretty nice....everyone i've met so far seems to be really cool so that's pretty sweet! We are staying at the villa maria....and my roomate for orientation is from conn. and goes to BC which is really nice because we are wicked close to each other! There is also another girl here from Dedham, MA...wooot!!!
Today was the first day of ORIENTATION...
pretty intense. we learned a lot of games and songs and basically what the philosophy of ACLE is. it was a pretty long day (9-5) and we had a half hour walk to and from the hotel. we find out thursday who will be in our tutor group and what camp we will be going to.....I CAN'T WAIT!!! after orientation it was power nap time and then off to urmbicia for dinner with the whole group!! i knew italians ate multiple courses but it seemed like the food didn't stop coming!!! it all tasted amazing though obviously and at least we are walking it all off.
the italians are going NUTS right now since they just won a game in the euro cup....it is so crazy and just wicked awesome!! hahahah well i think i may have said amazing, awesome, and cool about a million times in this post but oh well.....everything is fantastic. i'm so happy i actually made this trip and am here!! yay!!! go italia!!!
time to get going. i'm at the internet cafe at like 11 at night and want to go celebrate a lil and head back to the hotel!!!
night loves!!!
oh and GO CELTICS!!!
love, lauren
Yesterday, i bought a cheap lil telefoninino (cell phone) where i get free incoming calls....so feel free to call me whenever....
the number is 011393339886259
After this we went to a place called the Sax bar for a little meet and greet....had some drinks and good eats...then went for a walk down the beach!! It was pretty nice....everyone i've met so far seems to be really cool so that's pretty sweet! We are staying at the villa maria....and my roomate for orientation is from conn. and goes to BC which is really nice because we are wicked close to each other! There is also another girl here from Dedham, MA...wooot!!!
Today was the first day of ORIENTATION...
pretty intense. we learned a lot of games and songs and basically what the philosophy of ACLE is. it was a pretty long day (9-5) and we had a half hour walk to and from the hotel. we find out thursday who will be in our tutor group and what camp we will be going to.....I CAN'T WAIT!!! after orientation it was power nap time and then off to urmbicia for dinner with the whole group!! i knew italians ate multiple courses but it seemed like the food didn't stop coming!!! it all tasted amazing though obviously and at least we are walking it all off.
the italians are going NUTS right now since they just won a game in the euro cup....it is so crazy and just wicked awesome!! hahahah well i think i may have said amazing, awesome, and cool about a million times in this post but oh well.....everything is fantastic. i'm so happy i actually made this trip and am here!! yay!!! go italia!!!
time to get going. i'm at the internet cafe at like 11 at night and want to go celebrate a lil and head back to the hotel!!!
night loves!!!
oh and GO CELTICS!!!
love, lauren
Sunday, June 15, 2008
On the plane....
Welllll this trip isn't off to the best start. I am currently sitting on my plane and have been for a bit over another hour now b/c the pilot doesn't have some stupid fuel papwerwork!! I guess we have more fuel than we are supposed to or some shit like that...this is so annoying! To top it off there's no live tv on this plane so I can't watch the celts (hopefully) beat the crap out of kobe!!! Hopefully this baby gets underway soon...I'm anxious to get to italia and want to get this show on the road! Worst case scenario: we end up having to stay here for the night but at least there's a sam adams bar so I can drink some sam summer and watch the boys win it!!!
The guy next to me has the same crackberry too and said if I don't have this international plan I shouldn't talk at all on this thing....eeek let's hope it's not too much money.
Ah well here's hoping the next time I blog I'll be in europe. Cross your fingers kids...
Love, lauren
t minus 10 1/2 hours
welp if the crackberry works when i'm in italia i'll be paying the 50 cents a text to update the blog whenever i can....
time to sleep.
time to sleep.
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