Field Trips and Rome

 Buonasera! It is now my third week in Italy living with Gioia, Gaia and Mirna and I think I’m starting to get into the rhythm of things here. Last week, school was a little crazy. Monday, we had the field trip to the theatre to listen to an author, Tuesday, we went to school, but instead of going to class the older students in grade 11 and 12 had an assembly-ish thing in the gym. All the students gathered and a few of the class leaders stood at the front. Two things I noticed: Each class has two students that advocate for the class and there were no teachers to supervise. Imagine a small gym filled with teenagers trying to sort out school problems for an hour. Each student at the front had a chance to bring up a problem at the school and then, I’d assume, a solution and what they should do about it (I’m kind of guessing here… I’m still not great at understanding Italian).  From what I gathered, some of the things mentioned were the boys washroom, I guess some students were taking the toilets off and breaking them… James confirmed there were missing toilets. Another issue brought up that I found kind of concerning, a student had overdosed at school and they had to call an ambulance to go to the Hospital, so I guess they just said… don’t do drugs. During this “assembly” a student jumped up and ran straight for the exit into the hall, there was lots of yelling and running but he was stopped before he could leave by two boys standing at the door. That’s when James and I realized  we were trapped. Gioia told me then that the assembly had to last an hour before they could leave, after that they could leave the school. So, we waited and they finished early, we could not actually leave until the hour was up so everyone was just standing around talking while the students at the front tried to control everyone. This was my first Italian school assembly experience and it was… intense, but entertaining.

On Wednesday, we didn’t go to school until after the first class. The teacher of this class had told everyone not to go because she wouldn’t be there. There has been a couple of times where we’d have a supply but they were kind of just there to supervise and didn’t really teach, so, Gioia and I met up with some friends at a cafe once we got off the bus and got breakfast. We got cappuccinos and croissant type things called cornetti. After sitting at the cafe we went to school late and had the rest of the classes. Thursday, we had a field trip, my first visit to Rome. It started out a little chaotic, Mirna, Gioia's mom, dropped us off at the station to catch the train with the rest of the class. Gioia had reserved our tickets for the train the night before, so we were all ready to go, but some of the other students were having troubles with the ticket kiosk. Gioia gave him her card to use instead but they still had troubles. I was talking to James by the train with the rest of the class and they started to get on, I almost hopped on with them but decided I should go get Gioia because I didn’t want her worrying about where I was. Just as I found her struggling with the kiosk, the train was leaving. Me, Gioia and four other students were separated from the teachers and the rest of the class who were on the train. The next train to Rome was an hour later so after Gioia called the teachers and explained the situation, and we waited for the next train. Eventually we made it to Rome after an hour wait and an hour ride on the train. One of the teachers met us at the station and we walked to meet the rest of the class. Along the way I saw some cool buildings and lots of street vendors.

Our field trip to Rome was for volunteering at a soup kitchen for people who cannot afford food. James and I got the easy jobs, we started by wiping the tables and chairs then it was time for people to arrive. They asked us to stand by a counter and people would come and give us cards with numbers on them. We had to find their number on a page in one of three big binders then get them to sign on the date. It was stressful at first, scrambling to flip pages while they stare and watch me struggle. It wasn’t so bad, and compared to the other jobs some of my classmates had, I was grateful. We helped out until about 2, so we stayed a total of three hours, and after that we were all exhausted. We caught the train in time and headed back home. It was an eye opening experience, in total, there were about 450 people who came for a meal during that three hours,  some were families with young children and some were elders who were happy to talk for awhile. I felt good about helping the community and made some new friends.

Friday was our first normal day of school that week. We grabbed breakfast and coffee at the cafe before school and Gioia studied for her informatics test later that day. After not sitting in class for 6 hours in almost a full week, I found it hard to sit still. I gathered the courage to raise my hand and ask to leave class to go to the bathroom (posso andare in bagno?) and went for a walk to the girls washroom. In the school, there is a whole bathroom with stalls and sinks for the boys right near our class and another upstairs but, for the girls, we get one washroom for the whole school. There’s almost always a line up. I’ve only gone a total of three times, the first was fine, I just waited my turn then returned to class. The second time, I went to open the door and I thought I heard someone so closed it again but the teacher sitting a desk outside said it was empty, so, I opened it again and there was someone in there… I should have trusted my ears. This time when I went, there was no line up so I knocked, there was someone in there so I waited… and waited until the teacher sitting at the desk told me to knock again so I did and waited. Finally I gave up and walked away after about five minutes, I guess I didn’t have to go that bad. When I returned to class, James and I decided to listen to a podcast about a family who lived in a haunted house during the last two hours. It made it look like we were paying attention to the teacher because we had AirPods in and we weren’t looking down at a screen. It was a great way to pass the last two hours of school.

Saturday I woke up to the sun shining into the room, it has been cold and rainy for the past week but it was finally starting to warm up. I ate breakfast then sat outside and worked on school for awhile soaking up the sun. After lunch Gioia and I met up with some of her friends at a car/motorcycle meet. I admit, I don’t know much about them but it was interesting looking at all the bikes. I didn’t get many pictures of the actual motorcycles or cars at the meet, but the sunset with the mountains was very pretty. 

On Sunday we all woke up early and got ready for a road trip to Rome. This time we didn’t have to worry about missing the train again because Mirna drove us. The drive from Lariano (Gioias home town) to Rome was about 40 minutes and it was very beautiful. I’ve realized how flat Canada is compared to the mountains and hills in Italy. We drove on a road that was on the edge of a cliff over looking a lake, surrounding the lake was a small town. I also saw some old ruins of a large wall just before we entered Rome, Mirna told me they were apart of the Roman Empire. Our first stop in Rome was to visit Gioias grandma, she lives in an apartment on the outskirts of Rome. We enjoyed a quick coffee with her then headed to the subway (they call it the metro) to enter the city centre of Rome. I knew we were getting closer because more and more people starting crowding in the subway and at one point I couldn’t move because of the amount of people but I was so happy and overwhelmed with excitement that I didn’t care.

Once we arrived from the station I immediately saw Piazza Navona with the Borcacaia Fountain. It was so overwhelming but so beautiful. We were surrounded by luxury shops and buildings that looked liked they were built ages ago (probably because they were). We spent a couple of hours just walking around the city centre and did some shopping. A couple times people came up to us around the popular monuments and tried to sell us flags and other merchandise, we just said “no, grazie”. When we got to via dei fori imperiali, the main street in Rome where some of the popular buildings are, there was a celebration of South America where people were dressed in traditional clothing with floats and flags. There were people singing on the side of the street and we stopped to watch some guys do breakdancing for a few minutes. We had to leave quickly because we were expected back at Gioias grandmas for lunch. I snapped a few quick pictures of the colosseum and Gioia assured me we’d be back. 

After arriving back at Gioia’s Grandma’s apartment, we sat down for lunch. It was around two, I had to get used to eating later than we do in Canada but now it seems better to eat later anyway. She had everything set up when we got there, we started eating sort of an appetizer first, olives, chips, peanut and a pastry type food with ham and olives on top. Then, she took our plates and came back with lasagna, it was very good, I think it was pumpkin and mozzarella lasagna. Just when I thought we were done, she brought out a platter of cheeses, meats, and bread. My favourites were prosciutto and provolone cheese. Again, I thought that was it but she brought out a basket of fruit and we each picked one to eat. After that, we were finished… just kidding. Finally she brought coffee (espresso) and some pastries from a local bakery, she insisted I tired each one so I could decide on the best. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much before but it was all so good I couldn’t complain. 

After a busy and exciting weekend, I’m back in school trying to explain to the teachers what I learn in school in Canada, you should see there faces when I told them about my classes this semester. English got a nod but Art, Photography, and Travel and Tourism got some funny looks. I’m grateful for being able to pick my own classes now after sitting through a day of Chemistry, Physics, Math English and Italian. 

I hope everyone at home is doing well and I can’t wait to write about my next week… Ciao dall’Italia!

Link to my photos from Rome: https://home.sbender.net/nextcloud/index.php/s/BmPGdAYo6JnAdMQ