Updates

Since I last wrote, I been busy. Last weekend, Giuseppe came to visit and we spent the entire day in Milan Saturday seeing new sights and getting more familiar with the city. A friend of mine is currently doing her Master's here so she was nice enough to bring us around. One of the cuter places we saw was a church that has a sort of optical illusion inside. It is called Santa Maria Presso San Satiro. Essentially the back wall is painted in such a way that when you walk in it looks like this:

but when you walk further into the church and look from the side, you see that all that is painted above is actually painted on a single almost completely flat wall:

I thought that was awesome. Besides that, we mostly just saw the more touristy parts of Milan. This weekend, Giuseppe came back along with my beloved friend Katherine and a few of her buddies from Andorra. We did the touristy run through again but also made some useful discoveries about public bathrooms. 

(Bathroom side note: Just so everyone knows, there is a *free* public bathroom at Sforzesco Castle and one that costs fifty cents in the Burger King in Piazza Duomo. It prints out a little voucher so you can get your fifty cents back paying for a coffee or something.)

On Sunday, we went to Lake Como which was beautiful as expected and surrounded by mountains. Apparently, George Clooney's house is nestled further back from the part of the lake that you can actually see from the town of Como. Sadly, it isn't there for everyone to see. Anyway, here are a couple of the pictures I took. As you can see, northern Italy may not have anything on New England but the trees still get colorful here in the fall. 

I'm really liking the gym and the other day, I saw the hot tub for the first time and I think I fell in love. I also understand now where the high membership price comes from...It is a dream. Huge. Jets upon jets upon jets and neon lights under the water. Having access to something like this during the fall and winter time is just wonderful.

School is going well so far. I feel bad that I still haven't learned very many names, but I have 16 classes total and I don't think I'm going to be able to keep them all straight! This week, obviously I'll be talking about Halloween in a few of my classes as well as the books Gulliver's Travels and the Great Gatsby. Luckily I just watched the movie because the teacher for that class asked me to show some scenes for discussion this Friday.

Soon I'll be teaching three afterschool conversation classes probably Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 2:30-3:30pm. In this case, I'll be the teacher and not the teacher's assistant so I hope that the kids are respectful...Anyway, for each of those classes I'll receive a stipend at the end of the year. It obviously won't be like the salary of someone with a real full-time job but it will be a few hundred euros at least. Yay for big pay days on the last day of school! I also asked my advisor about doing private lessons because that is the main way that people like me who are doing assistantships make extra pocket change. I love my free time here but I still think I could manage to fill more of it up and still have plenty of time to relax.

School and more...

I haven't written in a while because I've been super sick...Before I got sick I had my first proper night out in Milan last Thursday. An Italian guy who interned at UPenn a few years ago- and came to several of the Bryn Mawr Italian department's events- invited me to an aperitivo at his office. If you don't know, an aperitivo is basically like a buffet of appetizer-like snack foods you eat along with some kind of alcoholic drink. Anyway, this was more specifically an art exhibit/aperitivo. I didn't really know him too well before going but after a few minutes I was shocked to hear that he was 28 years old. His friends, who met me at the subway and walked with me to the event, were 29 and 33 years old. I thought they were only a few years older than me and definitely felt a little self-conscious for being the baby of the group, not to mention the only one without a Doctorate or Masters degree or a full-time job. Everyone else at the exhibit was in their 50s and 60s and whatever age you were, you were dressed nice so it felt like more of an elegant event. There was unlimited wine, like always, plenty of little triangle sandwiches, other snacks and also some dessert. Aperitivo is one of the best parts of Italian culture.

Anyway, the moral of the story is coming up. After the aperitivo we went out for more food and drinks at a nearby bar and while I was talking to the ex-intern, he brought up a very good point. I was asking him about his experience in America and how it was and he said something along the lines of, "Being in a different country in an entirely new city is a life-changing experience. Whatever you are invited to, you say yes. You do things you wouldn't normally do, you spend time with people you wouldn't normally hang out with...Would you usually be out drinking with 30-year olds?" I had to laugh because when I got his invitation to come to this event, I said yes, yes, yes. I had school the next day and I should have spent more time planning the lessons, but again, "Whatever you are invited to, you say yes." I love that line because it really captures the essence of the experience.

Anyway, I should probably talk more about my experiences at the school. I have my hours finalized and therefore, I'm starting to settle in and fall into a routine. I'm in several different classes and I see each one either one a week or every two weeks. Each week, my hours in the classroom add up to 12.

I should explain one last detail. In Italian high schools, the students stay in one room all day and the teachers move around. Each class is labeled with a number- 1 for first year students, 2 for second-years, 3 for third-years, 4 for fourth-years, and 5 for fifth-years. The only reason I listed them all out was to draw attention to the fact that in Italy, students do five years of high school and then three years of college. (side note: If you do law or medicine, you do more than three years.) From there each class is labeled with a letter. So there's 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H...and I haven't heard letters beyond that. So apparently depending on your group, you're with the same 20 or so kids all year or for all of high school. I have to ask someone about this..Anyway, here is my schedule. I want to write the teachers as well to give an idea of how many different people I work with. The names are made up as you will probably notice.

Monday:         9:10am-10:10am with Mr. Michelangelo's 1B class

                      11:20am-12:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 2A class

Tuesday:        10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1D class (every other week)
                      10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Loren's 1E class (every other week)

                      11:20am-12:10am with Mrs. Loren's 2H class (every other week)
       
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1G class (every other week)
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Loren's 2G class (every other week)

                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 4D class

Wednesday:   9:10am-10:10am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3C class

                      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Loren's 1H class (every other week)

Thursday:      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Maria's 1F class

                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3E class
                   
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3A class

Friday:          12:10am-1:05pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 5D class
     
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Angela's 4A class (every other week)

Next month, I'll start teaching a class for Trinity College London's test on spoken English. From the sounds of it, if you do well, it is a nice certificate to have under your belt around here. For our program, we are technically supposed to do 12 hours of teaching and 13 of "related activities". I'm still trying to figure out what the related activities are. The only thing I'm sure of is that the Trinity test classes count. The other American assistant who works at the school is also teaching classes after school for the teachers, but I think that's her thing. She also does private tutoring for teacher's kids, but no one has mentioned that to me either.

I'm the newbie. It is definitely a little strange being the new one here where everyone already knows and loves the returning assistant. Today, when I was walking down the stairs with her we ran into another teacher and he started talking to her about some dinner he had planned with a few other people. After I introduced myself, we small talked for a bit, and finally he was like, "I should probably invite you too..." Another teacher randomly came up to me today and was like, "and who are you?" The getting oriented process is a little awkward, but I like to think that I'm friendly enough and will eventually be part of the community. All of the teachers I work with personally have been great and super welcoming and encouraging for the most part. For example, it was seriously cute of Mr. Michelangelo is offer to take my picture after my first official lesson to commemorate the moment. When he emailed it to me, he labeled it, "Natural Born Teacher"...Here it is:

Updates

I've met a few of my classes and now I'm waiting to start another. Although I haven't really gotten to know my students all that much, my first impression is a positive one. They seem like good kids that will participate and make the classes interesting. More on that later.

I mentioned that I wanted to take a Spanish class here and until now, I've been looking at a few schools but they haven't gotten back to me. Today, in the teacher's room, I met one of the Spanish teachers here and we're going to do a language exchange. Conversation- something like a half hour in Spanish and a half hour in English. Apparently, she used to be an English teacher but realizes she's forgotten some of the "beautiful words" she used to know. I told her I took Spanish courses for 5 years and can't say more than a few words. I'll let you all know how this goes...

The gym is great so far. I mean, this place is just decked out. A women's volleyball team from Brazil was actually practicing there the last time I went.My host sister says we should take a picture soon to put on the blog. Yesterday, I used the swimming pool which is amazing. Luckily for me, there are slow, medium, and fast lanes so you don't have to share with Michael Phelps.

P.S. Niki (the pitbull) had her first birthday yesterday. :)

First days at the school

So far I have a really great impression of the school I'll be working at, even though I've only actually been to the school a couple of times for meetings with my advisor and with other teachers. The program officially started October 1st, but depending on the needs of your school, you might start later. This Monday the 6th was the first time I was in a classroom and I just observed a couple of group presentations about the Anglo-Saxons. From what I heard, the students speak really well and probably have a better vocabulary than most Americans! During their break, a bunch of the kids came up to me and were asking me all kinds of questions- "Where are you from?", "How old are you?", etc. I'm happy they were curious and wanted to get to know me, instead of being shy or just not really caring.

Tomorrow i.e. Wednesday the 8th will be my first day actually up in front of a class. Just to clarify- I am not in charge of teaching classes on my own. I am a teaching *assistant* and will be assisting various full-time teachers in the school. Anyway, here is how the rest of the week looks:

Wednesday: Meet and greet with a class.

Thursday:    Meet and greet with another class.
                    Meet and greet/English language lesson about how to describe people
                                            e.g. "He is tall and skinny."

Friday:         Meet and greet with another class.
                    Meet and greet/History lesson about the American Revolution                                                  
                                            and the Declaration of Independence
       
To sum that all up, I'll be in five different classes this week and most of the time I'll just be getting to know the students. I'm a little nervous because this is it- it's finally starting! Sadly, I can't quite get settled in yet because it is not guaranteed that I'll be staying with all of the classes I'll be in this week. The final schedule for the school still hasn't been ironed out yet, but it should be by this time next week.

"Niki"

 

My host dog

First time at the gym

I went to the gym with my host sister for the first time yesterday and just like she assured me, it is amazing. It is huge, with a giant pool, saunas, showers, and all kinds of machines, including treadmills with built-in fans you can turn on if and when you get all sweaty. I decided to get a three-month membership and after paying that price...let's just say I will NOT be allowing myself to go to the gym any less than three times a week. As I said in a previous blog, you need to find ways to fill up your free time so I think it is worth it. Check out my lanyard:

Unfortunately, after I got home from the gym I was nauseous for hours and ended up throwing up like a maniac. I think my body is just getting used to being here and adding exercise to the mix straight away didn't work out so well. Oops I just realized that I made an exercise pun...

Permesso di soggiorno

Only people that plan on doing the SITE program will have a reason to read this post. I think it could really be of use. Unless of course you are super interested in the boring details of Italian bureaucracy.

The post office gives you the application for the permesso di soggiorno along with a guide on how to fill it out. I was actually pleasantly surprised with how detailed and easy-to-follow the guide was. However, there are a few things that are unclear anyway and in order to figure out certain parts of the application I wasted some time and energy that I didn't have to. I actually had to fill out two copies of the application for a stupid reason that was my fault so if you have any questions about it, I'm going to keep a copy and can answer anything you want to ask.

Here are two clarifications might expedite the process of filling out your forms:

1) On Modulo 1, it asks you for the number of your permesso di soggiorno. If you don't have one yet, obviously you can't and aren't expected to write the number.
2) Also on Modulo 1, it asks for your "codice fiscale" and if you don't have that either, it is okay to leave that part blank. Once you get your permesso di soggiorno, they will give you a codice fiscale.

I just have one more appointment where I give them some more stuff, including 4 passport-sized photos (Get these done in America so you have one less thing to figure out once you get here!), they take my fingerprints, and then I just have to wait for the permesso di soggiorno card in the mail.

BOTTOM LINE: I am almost finished all the beaurocratic stuff!

Rest of the week

Not as much to say in this blog. I went to the city center yesterday for the first time since I arrived. I met up with another American from the program and while I was waiting for him to get there, I did some quality people watching. Let's just put the rumors to rest. Lots of people in Milan are quite stylish and from what I saw many of them are just plain sexy and confident. One of the first sightings I made was that of two super made-up girls in skin tight dresses and sky high heels were taking pictures in front of the duomo, posing like they were at a professional photo shoot. People just kept streaming by wearing suits and leaving behind their cologne scents in the air. I also saw a couple making out passionately on the steps and doing that whole I-love-you-so-much-I'm-just-going-to-stare-at-you-for-minutes-on-end-and-smile thing. I had to laugh though when I saw some serious party animals pedaling by on this contraption blasting music and engaging in extreme merriment:

Complete with beer, table, and stools with pedals attached.

It turns out that getting to the city center from my house using public transportation is super easy. I just hop on the tram stop really close to my house and ride until the end of the line. It drops me off basically right in back of the duomo. The duomo is this for anyone who has no clue what I'm talking about:

Sweet.

P.S. I don't have to be at the school again until next Monday, so I guess until then I can just relax!